Winders are machines that roll lengths of paper, such as tissue webs, into rolls. These machines are capable of rolling lengths of web into rolls at high speeds through an automated process. Turret winders are well known in the art. Conventional turret winders comprise a rotating turret assembly which support a plurality of mandrels for rotation about a turret axis. The mandrels travel in a circular path at a fixed distance from the turret axis. The mandrels engage hollow cores upon which a paper web can be wound. Typically, the paper web is unwound from a parent roll in a continuous fashion, and the turret winder rewinds the paper web onto the cores supported on the mandrels to provide individual, relatively small diameter logs. The rolled product log is then cut to designated lengths into the final product. Final products typically created by these machines and processes are toilet tissue rolls, paper toweling rolls, and the like.
The winding technique used in turret winders is known as center winding. A center winding apparatus, for instance, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Reissue No. 28,353 to Nystrand, which is incorporated herein by reference. In center winding, a mandrel is rotated in order to wind a web into a roll/log, either with or without a core. Typically, the core is mounted on a mandrel that rotates at high speeds at the beginning of a winding cycle and then slows down as the size of the rolled product being wound increases, in order to maintain a constant surface speed, approximately matching web speed.
A second type of winding is known in the art as surface winding. Typically, in surface winding, the web is wound onto the core via contact and friction developed with rotating rollers. A nip is typically formed between two or more co-acting roller systems. In surface winding, the core and the web that is wound around the core are usually driven by rotating rollers that operate at approximately the same speed as the web speed.
Recently, a winding system was developed that can use both center winding and surface winding either alone or in combination. Such a winding system, for instance, is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0057068; U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0105776; U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0160127; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,909,282; which are incorporated herein by reference. The winding systems described in the above references have provided many advancements in the art. The above winding systems, for instance, can operate at very fast speeds and are capable of quickly reacting to unintended web breaks or faults.
A need still remains, however, for further improvements and advancements in the art for increasing winding speeds and/or increasing throughput.